"The risks to children have been greatly increased by improved communications connectivity and mobility, which make it easier for offenders to find and lure children online."

The survey said South Africa showed its commitment to tackling sexual violence against children by enacting "comprehensive" legislation.

"Victim support and resources for legal and law enforcement professionals could be strengthened."

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Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

The report praised South Africa’s training and guidance support workers in dealing with these cases.

"The department of education issues guidelines for teaching professionals, and there are similar programmes for medical, social and psychiatric workers," the report said.

It praised laws prohibiting:

Buying minors for sex

Filming or photographing of minors having sex

Human trafficking

Online grooming.

It also praised Vodacom's toll-free line offering children counselling.

The index ranked how 40 countries respond to these issues at a national level.

The World Childhood Foundation, Oak Foundation and the Carlson Family Foundation helped in developing the report, titled Out of the Shadows: Shining light on the response to child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The index did not measure the scale of the problem in each country but examined how stakeholders are responding to the threat of child sexual abuse and exploitation. It defined child sexual abuse as "anything in which a child is used for the sexual gratification of another".

One of the UN sustainable development goals is to end violence against children by 2030.

Only half of the 40 countries collect nationally representative prevalence data on child sexual abuse. Only five collect this data on child sexual exploitation.

The report found that boys were overlooked, with 21 countries having no legal protections for boys in their child rape laws. Only 18 countries collect prevalence data about the sexual abuse of boys.

It said these areas should be improved:

Access to victim support programmes

NGO guidelines for reporting on cases of sexual violence against children

Better resources for legal and law enforcement on the prosecution of sexual assault cases involving children